House Republicans’ opposition to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) was worse than it was for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) to become Speaker.
After Emmer became the House Republican Speaker-designate by a 117-97 vote over Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), he faces a steep uphill climb to become Speaker of the House.
Reports from Punchbowl News indicated there are 26 House Republicans who said they would vote for someone other than Emmer on the House floor. Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman referred to it as a “gigantic pool of No’s.”
Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) told CNN the bulk of the votes were in favor of the previous Speaker-designate, Jordan.
“There were 26 that either voted present or voted for another candidate. Of those I believe there were 5 that voted present and the bulk of them were for Jim Jordan. I think there was 5 for Mike Johnson, 1 for Byron Donalds,” Williams said.
The House Republican opposition to Emmer features strong conservative objection:
Here are the Rs who voted against Emmer, me and @bresreports:
Rick Allen — Jordan
Jim Banks — Jordan
Andy Biggs — Present
Josh Brecheen — Jordan
Mike Cloud — Jordan
Andrew Clyde — Jordan
Mike Collins — Jordan
Eli Crane — Johnson
Warren Davidson — Present
Bob Good –…— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 24, 2023
At the highest level of opposition to Jordan, 25 House Republicans opposed Jordan’s bid for Speaker. Now, 26 Republicans immediately oppose Emmer’s bid for Speaker right after becoming the Republican Speaker-designate.
One House GOP source said Emmer had a subpar performance during the House Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning.
“Tom Emmer had a less than stellar performance against backbench members. That was a weak showing and embarrassing, his team said it would take 2 ballots to secure the nomination, it ended up taking 5,” the source said. “He has compounding problems with social conservatives for his support for the transgender agenda and MAGA members for his opposition to President Trump. I would expect strong opposition to tank him on the House floor.”
“Tom Emmer should hold a national popular vote for the speakership,” another House GOP aide said.
The increasing Republican opposition to Emmer follows former President Donald Trump’s elevated attack against Emmer ahead of the House GOP Conference meeting.
On Trump’s Truth Social social media platform he “ReTruthed” Laura Loomer, an aggressive conservative activist, who wrote:
I’ll be LIVE talking about my expose of Tom Emmer, the Trump hating Congressman who is now the Uniparty’s favored pick to become Speaker of the House even though he worked for a Soros group dedicated to getting rid of the Electoral College. Kevin McCarthy has endorsed Emmer, and tonight I’m going LIVE to expose him for who he really is.
Watch my interview LIVE tonight here to learn all you ever wanted to know about Democrat in disguise, Tom Emmer
House Democrats, including those from his home state of Minnesota, have said they could sit out the vote for Speaker to lower the threshold to make Emmer the next Speaker.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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